The present invention relates generally to parking systems. More particularly, this invention is directed to a system and method for managing and controlling the flow of traffic to and from events. This invention is particularly useful in improving traffic and parking congestion, decreasing operational costs, and increasing event revenues.
Major sporting events, rock concerts, monster truck shows, and the like, require moving approximately 30,000 to 70,000 or more people into and out of a stadium, concert hall, coliseum, and the like. The typical event requires a spectator to drive to the venue and pay a fee to park. The fee is typically dependent upon the proximity to the event location and is capable of a wide range of associated expense. Once parking has been paid for, the spectator then must find a parking space, involving approximately 5-10 minutes of searching through the lot for an appealing, available space. Having located a parking space, the spectator then exits the vehicle and must walk to the event venue from the parking lot, involving another 10-15 minutes, depending upon the location of the lot in which the spectator has parked. Once inside the event venue, the spectator spends another 10-15 minutes in locating their seats.
When taking into account increased security measures for large spectator events, the actual time spent in travel, parking and seat location ranges from 30 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, allowing for searches, metal detectors, and the like. In order to account for the amount of time required, the typical spectator makes it a habit of arriving 1 hour early, just to avoid the worst of the parking congestion.
Leaving the event venue proves even more problematic, as the departure of all spectators at one time overloads the available egress routes. Once an event has ended, leaving the event venue provides an even larger amount of travel time. For example, assuming a spectator waits until the event is over, the spectator spends approximately 25 to 30 minutes just to exit the venue on foot. When the spectator has exited the structure, he or she must then spend a greater amount of time walking to his or her vehicle as a result of the increased pedestrian congestion, as a multitude of spectators attempt to exit the structure at approximately the same time. Thus, the spectator spends 20 to 30 minutes simply walking back to his or her car.
Having located the vehicle, the spectator must anywhere from 40 minutes to 1 hour, as traffic builds, before even exiting the parking lot. Leaving the parking lot and entering a street near the venue does not decrease the travel time home for the spectator. In actuality, the spectator can expect to spend an ever increasing amount of time as streets and thoroughfares are overloaded by vehicles leaving parking surrounding the event venue. The average spectator, while taking 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes to get to the venue, expects to spend approximately 2 to 3 hours prior to returning home. The foregoing example assumed the spectator waits until the event is over, however a growing majority of spectators leave the event early, just to avoid the traffic and congestion that occurs when the event ends.
In addition to the time spent by the spectator to get to and from the event, costs are incurred by the event management, local law enforcement and municipalities. The event management must outlay ever increasing capital in labor expenses to provide parking attendants and security staff. The event management staff is also required to provide evacuation planning from the venue, as well as ensure that emergency vehicles have unobstructed access to the structure to deal with the various medical and other emergency situations that arise when large crowds of people gather in one place.
Local law enforcement is typically overwhelmed, as spectators arrive from well outside their jurisdiction, overwhelming the available local personnel by shear numbers alone. Additionally, the increased spectator traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, typically result in a higher than normal incident of accidents, which the local law enforcement personnel must then handle. Further, the local municipality traffic pattern is altered well beyond its design. The municipality must then spend funds on additional law enforcement personnel simply to direct traffic, in addition to those law enforcement and emergency personnel required to handle security and emergency situations.
Current event planning does not allow law enforcement and event management to control the number of vehicles on roads to and from the venue simply because the spectators do not arrive in the most efficient manner. Thus, the spectator arrives following a route that is not the most efficient use of traffic patterns, increasing the congestion as the spectator attempts to locate a suitable parking lot. The haphazard arrival of the spectators to the venue is not an even distribution, thus parking is lopsided and congestion results therefrom.
There is thus a need for a system and method to control and manage traffic and parking congestion, decrease the operational costs, and increasing event revenues.